1 week ago
13
Portland Trail Blazers caput manager Chauncey Billups and Miami Heat defender Terry Rozier person been arrested successful transportation with probes into amerciable gambling, US media reported Thursday.
The poker games, which included hoops players to lend credibility to their authenticity, were allegedly rigged successful favour of those moving the games, utilizing precocious technology, specified arsenic rigged shuffling machines and adjacent X-ray exertion to work cards facing down connected the table, U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr. said.
The profits from the alleged poker strategy ran up to $7 cardinal “and counting,” officials said. The probe took spot crossed 2 years, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said.
Billups coached the Trail Blazers successful their play opener connected Wednesday night, a nonaccomplishment to the Minnesota Timberwolves. Billups was besides a Hall of Fame player, mostly for the Detroit Pistons, earlier retiring successful 2014. He was a five-time All-Star successful his 17 years successful the NBA and led the Pistons to the NBA rubric successful 2004, being named Finals MVP.
Christopher Raia, adjunct manager successful complaint of the FBI’s New York Field Office, called it a “massive, nationwide takedown” of 34 defendants successful transportation with 2 abstracted sports betting and amerciable poker schemes.
Among the defendants are existent and erstwhile NBA coaches and players, authorities said, arsenic good arsenic 13 Mafia members and associates from the Bonano, Gambino and Genovese transgression families.
Authorities described it arsenic a “sprawling transgression enterprise” to “dupe unsuspecting gamblers.”
Meanwhile, successful what officials described arsenic an “overlapping” lawsuit tied to prop betting connected NBA games, Rozier and erstwhile Cleveland Cavaliers subordinate and adjunct manager Damon Jones person been arrested.
Rozier and Jones allegedly passed wrong accusation to 4 co-defendants, who are accused of passing the accusation to a web of sports bettors, sources said. Those bettors allegedly placed wagers with online sports books oregon retail betting outlets, which prohibit betting based connected nonpublic information.
The indictment included an illustration from March 23, 2023, erstwhile Rozier — past playing for the Charlotte Hornets — allegedly tipped disconnected a co-defendant that helium planned to permission the crippled aboriginal with a purported injury, sources said. He near the crippled 9 minutes in. A co-defendant and others allegedly placed $200,000 successful wagers, betting Rozier would underperform his statistics.
Rozier is successful his 11th twelvemonth successful the NBA. He’s appeared successful 665 games and has averaged 13.9 points per crippled implicit 665 games played. He was a cardinal contributor for the Boston Celtics connected playoff runs successful 2016-19 earlier joining the Hornets.
His squad opened the 2025 play Wednesday nighttime successful Orlando, but Rozier did not play arsenic helium deals with a hamstring injury.
English (US) ·